Monday Moments: Baby Showers

Sarah's and Tosha's baby shower. The theme was owls.

Food:

Oreo truffles in the form of pops...delicious!!

Silvana made the sandwiches--she's a fantastic cook. Her buttered chicken? Absolutely love!

The food table was so pretty...and yummy!!

Nancy's Spring Rolls.

{First time I heard Nancy say she would make spring rolls for church, I was like...wha??? Was she going to shape the [bread] rolls into something that would remind us of spring? A flower? Rain drops? Even when I saw them at our potluck the next Sunday, I didn't recognize them as anything I'd eaten before. But, I tried them {Alberta has opened my horizons on food ;} and love'em.}

Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and garnished with M&M's.

Another angle on the food...

Isn't this a pretty blanket!?

Pretty Baby Girl clothes... 

The diaper cake turned out really cute! And, of course, you can never start to early on one's book collection! :D

T and Baby Hailey {10 Months ago...yup, I'm very late posting these. At least they're up before the kiddos turned ONE! :}

Diaper cake!

Sarah's Mom, Anne, made the wooden blocks and also the silliute above. She does impressive work! Check her Etsy shop, theRUBBERpress. The above were made specifically for the shower, but I'm sure you can find things you love on her site.

Timeless Treasures: {Amazing} Scenes of the West--British Columbia & Alberta

Homemade Chicken Burgers

I love cooking new things and making up my own meals--either a new creation or a fabulous re-make on an old. Cooking, in my opinion is SO much more forgiving than baking. You can throw in a pinch of this and a pinch of that...or a cup of this and a cup of that...for most dishes, there is no difference if you alter the recipe {whereas, with most baking recipes, precision and accuracy are encouraged for yummy tasting and looking desserts :D}

Anyway, a friend of mine is headed back to the Island {Victoria, BC} with her husband and kids for vacation, and last night was the only time we could fit in a visit before she leaves--on Friday morning! They live about an hour and half from town, so it was [past] supper time before I made it out to their hobby farm.

Since she had ground chicken, I suggested we make chicken burgers.

Tosh mixed the chicken, bread crumbs, 1 egg, fresh garlic, minced onion, and some herb&garlic seasonings--before shaping into patties and placing on a heated pan that had a little bit of oil.

She sliced up some avocado...

and tomato for hers...

I kept it simple with just a bit of mayo and pickles :D

Tosh thought pickles sounded good too...

and mustard!

And, instead of using bread, I put mine on a bed of lettuce and Tosh wrapped hers in lettuce.

Really, you can put whatever you want on your burger...it will taste good, no matter what!

I love the drive out to their place. The scenery is breath-taking, whether summer or winter. Yesterday we had dark clouds most of the day and a little bit of rain. In the midst of a dark and angry sky, this little puff of cloud was snow white. It made me smile so I had to stop and take a picture! Good thing the roads out there aren't too busy!

Raspberry & White Chocolate Brownies

Normally, when I think of brownies, they're always chocolate. Frosted, sprinkled with smarties/m&m's, layered, or simple...I imagine that intense taste of chocolate in every bite. {By the way, I'm a firm believer that white chocolate isn't in fact chocolate...and Blondies were created for people who *gasp* don't like chocolate ;}

Anyway, several weeks ago I came across this recipe. And, since it looked pretty and sounded good, I decided to make it.

Boy oh boy. These are simply excellent for snacking. Or dessert. You could pair one with milk and call it breakfast :D

raspberry and white chocolate brownies
PREP: 30 min  BAKE: 30 min @ 350

1/2 cup butter
2 oz white baking chocolate {I substituted with 1 bag of white chocolate chips}
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped, toasted almonds {I made mine without}
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Dash of salt
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 oz white baking chocolate, melted

Step One:
Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8x2-in baking pan with foil.. Grease foil; set pan aside.

Step Two:
In a medium saucepan, cook and stir butter and the 2 oz chopped white chocolate over low heat until melted. Remove from heat. Add eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Beat lightly with a wooden spoon, just until combined. Stir in flour, almonds, baking powder, and salt.

Step Three:
Spread batter evenly in the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with raspberries. Bake for 30-35 min or until golden. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Step Four:
Using the edges of the foil, lift uncut brownies out of pan. Cut into bars, or whatever fun shapes you would like. Drizzle brownies with the melted white chocolate.

Yum!

Flour's Famous Banana Bread

I thought I had found a really good banana bread/muffin recipe...until I found Flour's Famous Banana Bread.....NOW my search is complete!

This recipe was created by Joanne Chang when her Mom would buy a lot of bananas and try getting the kids to eat them--it was a protection thing :) Good thing for us they had a lot of banana's in their household!

This is THE best recipe I've tried for banana bread, and I've tried quite a few. It is light, has beautiful crumb, and out of this world flavour {I let my banana's get black, black...D asked if I was trying to make vanilla beans ;)}. I made them Sunday morning, and they were gone the next day.

They are that good.

I'm not a fan of nuts in most of my baking, so I omitted them from this recipe. But, you feel free to do what you want :)

Flour's Famous Banana Bread

{Makes one 9-inch loaf}

1&1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. kosher salt {I just used regular table salt}

1 c. plus 2 TBS sugar

1/2 c canola oil
2 eggs

3&1/2 very ripe, medium bananas, peeled and mashed {1&1/3 c mashed}

2 TBS creme fraiche or sour cream {I haven't made creme fraiche yet, so I just used sour cream}

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 walnut halves, toasted and chopped {I left these out and added chocolate chips to have the batch}

>>Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9x5in loaf pan.

>>In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

>>Using a stand mixer fitted witht he whip attachment {or a handheld mixer}, beat together the sugar and eggs on medium speed for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. {If you are using a handheld mixer, this same step will take about 8 minutes}

>>On low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil. Don't pour the oil in all at once. Add it slowly so it has time to incorporate in the the eggs and doesn't deflate the air you have just beaten into the batter. Adding it should take about 1 minute. Add the bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla and continue to mix on low speed just until combined.

>>Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture and nuts{chocolate chips :D} just until thoroughly combined. No flour streaks should be visible and the nuts should be evenly distributed. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.

>>Bake for 1 to 1&1/4 hours, or until golden brown on top and the center springs back when you press it. If your finger sinks when you poke the bread, it needs to bake a little longer. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes, and then pop it out of the pan to finish cooling.

>>The banana bread can be stored tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. Or, it can be well wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 2 weeks; thaw overnight at room temperature for serving.

So, so, so very yummy!

This recipe comes from the book: flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery + Cafe.....love this book! I highly recommend it for the gorgeous pictures, Joanne's essential baking tips, and mouth-watering collection of almost 150 recipes from Flour.

I can't wait to try the rest of her recipes! So many delectable choices :)